Harvey confusion! Weinstein is the one in trouble, not Fierstein

With names so similar, it’s not a surprise that some people are confusing Harvey Weinstein and Harvey Fierstein.

Adding to the confusion, both men are heavy-set, New York Jews in their 60s with deep, husky voices. And both are involved in the world of entertainment.

Weinstein is the one who is in the news right now. Not Fierstein. However, because of the similarities, Fierstein is getting drawn into the controversy and making light of it.

Harvey Fierstein is a 63-year-old actor and playwright. He’s openly gay (one of the first people to ever publicly come out) and came to fame in the 1980s when his gay-themed Torch Song Trilogy ran on Broadway.

He won a Best Actor in a play Tony (in 1983) for Torch Song Trilogy and also Best Actor in a musical Tony (in 2003) for performing in drag as Edna Turnblad in the Broadway production of Hairspray.

Fierstein also won Tonys for writing Torch Song (in 1983) and the book to La Cage aux Folles (in 1984).

Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein is a 65-year-old movie mogul, the head of the Weinstein Company, the company that has released many LGBTI-themed art house movies such as A Single Man, The Imitation Game, Carol, Philomena, Bully and Transamerica.

Before that, he was the head of Miramax Films, the production and distribution company that he and his younger brother, Bob, founded in 1979.

Page Six even had fun with the confusion, writing up a fun piece and interviewing Fierstein.

The actor told the gossip column, ‘Between a hurricane and a Weinstein, this Harvey is yearning for the days when people mistook me for an invisible rabbit [the Harvey of a Broadway play and later a Jimmy Stewart film].’